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Mobile devices with small screens and minimal facilities for interaction are increasingly being used in complex human activities for accessing and processing information, while the user is moving. This paper presents a case study of the design and evaluation of a mobile system, which involved transformation of complex text and tables to digital format on a PDA. The application domain was an emergency medical ward, and the user group was junior registrars. We designed a PDA-based system for accessing information, focusing on the ward instruction, implemented a prototype and evaluated it for usability and utility. The evaluation results indicate significant problems in the interaction with the system as well as the extent to which the system is useful for junior registrars in their daily work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the INTERFACE methodology developed by researchers of our department. It is based on the simultaneous assessment of Heart Period Variability (HPV),Skin Conductance (SC), and other data. The objective and significance of this paper are (1) showing its capability of identifying quality attributes of software elements with a time-resolution of only a few seconds and (2) presenting its practical applicability in the evaluation phase of a real software development process. The Department of Ergonomics and Psychology at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics carried out a contract-based applied research project for the Generali-Providencia Insurance Co. Ltd. The Company was in the process of further developing the software used in its customer centers, and our Department contracted to assess the user interface. Both analytical and empirical usability evaluation methods were applied. In this paper, we highlight the new experiences of the INTERFACE testing methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competing globally, an issue for companies is to adapt their organizational structures and governance in increasingly complex organizations. At the functional level of purchasing, companies turn to hybrid purchasing organizations in order to leverage global sourcing benefits. One of the key challenges in this context is to distinguish between categories to be integrated across sites and those remaining under the authority of each purchasing location in order to maximize purchasing synergies. The aim of the paper is to present a purchasing portfolio model that provides a comprehensive view of relevant global synergy dimensions. Based on a literature review, a theoreticallygrounded purchasing portfolio model for global sourcing is developed, going beyond the well-established Kraljic matrix for classifying purchasing categories. The validity of the model is explored by means of a single in-depth case study. Complementing the extant literature, the theoretical contribution of the paper lies in not only addressing category selection criteria for exploiting economies of scale, but also for economies of information & learning and economies of process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction faults caused by a flawed external system designed by a third party are a major issue faced by interconnected systems. In this paper, we define a scenario where this type of problem occurs, and describe some fault cases observed in real systems. We also discuss the most important challenges faced in this scenario, focusing on error detection. The problem is divided in several sub-problems, some of which can be addressed by traditional or simple techniques, and some of which are complex problems by themselves. The purpose of this paper is not to present ad hoc solutions to specific sub-problems, but to introduce a new scenario and give general approaches to address each sub-problem. That includes a detailed insight on important concepts, such as implicit redundancies. With this, we lay down the foundations for a wide range of future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving sufficient execution performance is a challenging goal of software development. Unfortunately, violating performance requirements is often revealed at a late stage of the development. Fixing a performance problem at such a late stage is difficult in terms of cost and time. To solve this problem, this paper presents QoSWeaver, which is a tool suite for developing application-level scheduling using aspects. QoSWeaver weaves scheduling code written in an aspect into web application code. The scheduling code gets an application thread to voluntarily yield its execution to implement a custom scheduling policy. The idea of scheduling at the application level is not new, but aspect-oriented programming (AOP) makes it more realistic by separation of scheduling code. For fine-grained scheduling, QoSWeaver provides a profile-based pointcut generator, which automatically generates appropriate pointcuts. To investigate the ability of QoSWeaver for implementing practical scheduling policies, we used QoSWeaver for tuning the performance of a river monitoring system named Kasendas, which is a web application system. For reliable examination, Kasendas was originally developed by an outside corporation and then it was tuned by the authors with QoSWeaver. The authors could successfully improve the performance of Kasendas under heavy workload. The cost of the performance tuning was reasonably small. Furthermore, our approach achieved better performance than other techniques such as admission control and priority scheduling provided by the JVM or Linux. We could implement various policies such as deadlock-aware or adaptive scheduling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increased pressure to reduce cost, reduce development time, and improve quality, many software companies are moving toward using a Globally Distributed Software Development (GSD) paradigm. Due to the challenges and difficulties with GSD, researchers and practitioners are attempting to identify key success factors for GSD projects. Based on our previous work, we found that the key success factors can be different depending upon specific project characteristics. To ensure a successful outcome, project managers have to focus on the right success factors for their particular project. In this paper, we illustrate how a GSD simulation model can be used to represent a specific project and to identify key success factors for that project. We use a case study from an actual software development firm. We also perform sensitivity analysis to assess the magnitude of the performance impact for the key factors for the specific project. For the case study site, which uses a combination of phase-based and module-based task allocation strategies, we found that team member familiarity, frequency of team meetings, and communication frequency each have a strong impact on total project effort and duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offshoring is motivated by the relocation and standardization of organizational services to remote locations–typically the so-called developing nations–in order to achieve substantial cost efficiencies. Standardized business practices, aided by information technologies, are assumed to mobilize and recover the service practices in these new contexts. In this paper, we examine the boundary objects and boundary work involved in call center work. Data from several interviews with managers, industry consultants, and agents in the call center industry reveal that the recovery of call center practices in India involves substantial managerial and employee work, in order to manage and stitch together the diverse cultural and practical interests of the various groups. As a result, beneath the automated and simplified appearance of call center work is an underlying complexity of boundary work and boundary objects involved in linking the various participants–both human and nonhuman–into a temporarily stable industry. The result is a complication to both utopian and dystopian views of call center work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the debate over information systems and their role in society persists, the discipline continues to seek approaches to better understand IS, and its complex interactions with organizations and people. This paper draws ideas from Deleuze and Guattari΄s work on rhizomes (a nonhierarchical network) and its opposing tree (arboreal structure), to develop better insights (Deleuze and Guattari 2004). The paper specifically revisits the case of Ivy University, in which a major introduction of an ERP application was attempted by the powerful central administration. When this centralized and arboreal structure collapses, it is eventually replaced by a much more organic system, which emerged from the localized and ad hoc software developments that had already taken place. The rhizomic interpretation of this case enables both a conceptualization of information systems within social and organizational settings and offers a set of principles on which the concept of a ˵rhizomatic informatics″ may be based and IS case studies interpreted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the design of the learning game Internet Hero, in which the player is transported into a fictional world representing the Internet. The game shall convey learning contents about the technical and social basics of using the Internet. We connect game design to learning principles and evaluate the game through gameplay metrics and interviews with children. We show that we were able to build an engaging game while at the same time building on a strong theoretical foundation on digital game-based learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to design a schema of webgame-based collaborative learning. Using the most popular webgame ˵Happy Farm″ as a case study, this paper reviews and analyses the characteristics of the game and usability of the interface through learning theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism and interface design theories by Shneiderman and laws of gestalt psychology. It indicates that webgames can be reused to be good learning resources if designers integrate reasonable topics and tasks. They can provide a collaborative learning environment and are good for developing learners΄ higher order thinking skills. Usability principles used in this case study should be provided by the teachers to choose webgames to ensure more standardized and rigorous learning environment. This learning design provides teachers with insights into the use of learning theories and usability principles for choosing webgames for designing learning activities. It also provides a gauge of current usability level of commercially developed webgames as usage of such webgames continue to proliferate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Configurable process models integrate different variants of a business process into a single model. Through configuration users of such models can then combine the variants to derive a process model optimally fitting their individual needs. While techniques for such models were suggested in previous research, this paper presents a case study in which these techniques were extensively tested on a real-world scenario. We gathered information from four Dutch municipalities on registration processes executed on a daily basis. For each process we identified variations among municipalities and integrated them into a single, configurable process model, which can be executed in the YAWL workflow environment. We then evaluated the approach through interviews with organizations that support municipalities in organizing and executing their processes. The paper reports on both the feedback of the interviewed partners and our own observations during the model creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social networking tools have been enthusiastically heralded as a means to support different learning types and innovative pedagogical practices. They have also been recognized as potential tools to promote informal learning. In this paper we describe work carried out using the synergy of social web tools, learning models and innovative pedagogical practices across a Masters Degree Course. Findings suggest that the use of these tools as a means to distribute an open and flexible learning environment fosters informal interactions and such interactions are perceived by students to have a significant impact over their formal learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing an user experience (UX) practice is an endeavor that more and more companies engage in to increase their market success. While there is a rich knowledge base on UX processes and methods, practical tips and tricks for starting up a corporate UX culture are harder to find. This paper summarizes best practices, recommendations and experiences from other companies and traces our own efforts and thoughts while integrating UX into our company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the results of a case study conducted together with a small company that develops a workflow modeling tool. During the case study, we created a pattern collection for the domain of workflow modeling tools and evaluated a subset of these patterns. Beside the pattern description itself, the contribution of our work is a systematic process for identifying patterns. The results of the case study showed, that the identified pattern are a valuable instrument for software developers to improve the usability of their software in the given domain. Additionally this finding shows that the process of pattern identification is valuable as well. ACM Classification Keywords: H5.2. Information interfaces and presentations, Miscellaneous theory and methods, D.2.2 Software Engineering, Design Tools and Techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although measurement has been successfully applied in various areas, it has proved to be a complex and difficult undertaking in the field of software and especially in the context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Measurement programs in SMEs with a low maturity level should be tailored to their limitations (limited resources, experts, etc.) in order to carry out the measurement initiatives efficiently. In this paper we report the method, principles and practices followed in our experience for defining and implementing a measurement program in the development department of Sistemas Técnicos de Loterías del Estado (STL). We also show the characteristics of this company which guided our approach towards tackling the problem, and the resulting software measurement program. As a result of the application of certain practices in the company, some significant benefits were obtained, which could be replicated in similar environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With their expanding information assets and the growing importance of the knowledge factor, organizations are increasingly challenged to efficiently support knowledge management processes with appropriate structuring and retrieval technologies. Besides traditional information retrieval approaches, the use of semantic technologies like Topic Maps is also becoming more important. This paper compares the potential value of all these approaches, technological requirements, and applications. Thereafter, appropriate recommendations are derived for the most suitable choice of technology. In addition, early experiences from a practical case in the chemical industry provide further insights into the applicability of these recommendations in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the late `70s on, Albrecht΄s Function Point Analysis provided an insightful way to size a software system moving from the elicitation of Functional User Requirement (FUR), making an evaluation more objective than done before using Lines of Code (LOC). This technique has currently a plenty of variants, some of them become international de jure standards (e.g. COSMIC, NESMA, Mark-II and FISMA) - called FSM (Functional Size Measurement) methods - and they are widely adopted worldwide. A common problem when using a FSM for estimation purposes is that the software size (that is a product measure, referring only to its functional side) is used as the solely independent variable to estimate the overall project effort, that includes the effort of both the functional and non-functional activities within the project΄s boundary, as currently stressed more and more in the Scope Management field, also in the Software Engineering domain (see NorthernScope and SouthernScope approaches), not knowing neither the approximated distribution between the two parts. This missing information, usually not gathered in projects΄ repositories, can be one of the reasons leading to a lower capability in estimating project effort. In 2003, a new technique called PSU (Project Size Unit) come out with the aim to size the `project΄ entity from a Project Management viewpoint. It can be used alone or jointly with a FSM unit. In the second case, the joint usage of the two values can improve what a FSM cannot measure and therefore estimate, that is the non-functional side of a software project. This paper presents a case study with 33 projects measured both with IFPUG FPA and COSMIC methods as well as with PSU, showing the obtained results using the different sizes for estimating the overall effort, and providing a rationale for the better results with PSU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reason that most undergraduate students in China spend a lot more time playing computer games rather than learning is not that learning is too hard, but it is boring, while playing games is fun. How to provide appropriate and interesting opportunities that can engage students and improve the learning process? This paper discusses an innovatory education paradigm quasi-GBL, which integrates game elements with role play in collaborative learning. Case study of quasi-GBL in an undergraduate course ˵Software Engineering″ reveals that quasi-GBL is successful in achieving experiential and fun learning, offering a variety of knowledge presentations, and creating opportunities for knowledge application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the early weeks of a live pilot of item-level RFID by METRO Group΄s German department store, Kaufhof. The RFID-Enabled Sales Floor utilizes UHF Gen2 RFID tags on fashion items, combined with RFID-enabled dressing rooms, intelligent displays, and smart mirrors. The pilot represents a pioneering attempt to conduct end-to-end UHF item-level tracking of items through the point-of-sale. Based on an exploratory case study, we reflect on the implications of ubiquitous item-level RFID technology and offer suggestions for further research on the socio-technical implications of this important product and process innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the theoretical models available, there are hardly any studies that adopt a systematic approach towards analyzing management issues in purchasing marketing services. Therefore current problems in this area are analyzed from Agency Theory (AT) and Organizational Buying Behavior (OBB) perspectives in this paper. The insights obtained are complemented with an elaboration of theoretical solution mechanisms from AT. We then analyze the case of a company which was experiencing major problems in buying agency services and has been successful in overcoming these in light of the proposed theories. The results of the case study indicate that the initial problems can be classified as AT-problems and that the theoretical solution mechanisms are indeed applied in the new practices. The case study also illustrates that purchasing can be a driver of applying these mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a case of running inclusive design workshops. Communication in an inclusive design workshop is not intercultural colla- boration itself. However, as designers, engineers, and users who have individual needs, such as aged and disabled people, gather in the workshop, participants may become aware of differences in individual creation of meanings by communicating with other participants. Because as individuals our imaginative power is sometimes quite insufficient, it is not possible to sufficiently analyze such individual needs without communicating directly. In the inclusive design workshop, participants cooperate with each other during the design process, revealing differences in individual creation of meanings. In this paper, we describe some activities of social-academic cooperation, specifically cases of workshops that were run by an nonprofit organization (NPO) and a laboratory at Kyoto University. The former supports aged and disabled people΄s participation in society and the latter researches communication by the system theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A business strategy based on customized products with a high level of variety requires systems for efficient generation of product variants. The development of a system for automated variant design is a significant investment in time and money. To maintain the system΄s usefulness over time, frequent updating of design rules and execution control will normally become a necessity. Significant efforts are required for maintenance and adapting an established system to changes in product technology, new product knowledge, production practices, new customers and so forth. Another important aspect that has been identified, is the reuse of the system encapsulated generic product family descriptions, for example design rules, when developing a new product family. In this paper a case study is presented with the objectives to provide an understanding and an insight into a real industrial case. A focus is put on the documentation and management of product related knowledge for the purpose of revealing problems related to the current state of practice at the company to identify areas for improvements. The results are based on the experiences from a case study at a company with long experience of systems for automated variant design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind power is one way we can reduce our dependency on fossil fuel imports and mitigate climate change. However, wind power can play this important role only if sufficient space for wind farming is made available off-shore as well as on-shore including sites far away from the seashores. Against this background this paper presents a comparative analysis of two hinterland case studies from Germany. Applying GIS and official wind speed data we evaluate the effectiveness of designated wind farming areas in the regions of West Saxony and North Hesse in terms of their expected wind energy yields and potential for repowering. We show that, in this respect, the current spatial allocation for wind power generation in both study regions is not as effective as it could be, but for different reasons. We contrast this finding with an alternative proposal which not only meets the legal requirements for wind power generation but also yields better results in terms of expected energy output. This proposal takes into account the availability of different turbine types and a spatial re-allocation of wind farming areas within the study regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents criteria and evaluation methods for evaluating domain-specific modelling (DSM) solutions based on analysing state of the art and experiences of developing and evaluating DSM solutions in research projects. The state-of-the-art analysis returned several requirements regarding the quality of domain-specific modelling languages and tools developed based on them that are classified based on the identified stakeholders. The stakeholders are those who develop and those who use a DSM solution, the intended domain and purposes with developing a DSM solution as defined by domain experts, software engineering concerns, integration with other languages or tools, and the quality of artefacts to be modelled or generated. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches may be applied for evaluating DSM solutions based on the development stage and requirements. There is a clear need for a process that supports evaluating the quality of DSM solutions and this research contributes to the definition of such process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Car sharing and car pooling have proven to be an effective solution to reduce the amount of running vehicles by increasing the number of passengers per car amongst medium/big communities, like schools or enterprises. However, the success of such practice relies on the ability of the community to effectively share and retrieve information about travelers and itineraries. Structured overlay networks, such as Chord, have emerged recently as a flexible solution to handle large amounts of data without the use of high-end servers, in a decentralized manner. In this paper we present CarPal, a proof-of-concept for a mobility sharing application that leverages a Distributed Hash Table to allow a community of people to spontaneously share trip information, without the costs of a centralized structure. Moreover the peer-to-peer architecture allows for deployment on portable devices, and opens new scenarios in which trips and sharing requests can be updated in real time. By using an already developed original protocol that allows to interconnect different overlays/communities, the success rate (number of shared rides) can be boosted up, thus increasing the effectiveness of our solution. Simulations results are shown to give a possible estimate of this effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an in-depth view of how architects work with maintaining product line architectures in the automotive industry. The study has been performed at two internationally well-known companies, one car manufacture and one commercial vehicle manufacture. The results are based on 12 interviews with architects performed at the two companies. The study shows what effect differences such as a strong line organization or a strong project organization has on the architecting process. It also shows what consequence technical choices and business strategy have on the architecting process. Despite the differences the results are surprisingly similar with respect to the process of managing architectural changes as well as the information the architects maintain and update, especially in the light that the companies have had no direct cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In February 2008 the people of Geneva voted in favor of a new Constitution to replace the current one, written in 1847 and considered by many to be out of line with today΄s society. The main objective of this research was to analyze participation during the process of writing a new Constitution. In the first part of this paper we set the context of our study and in the second we describe our research methodology and analysis framework. In the last section we describe our findings regarding actors and processes of participation and eParticipation, as well as underlying communication and coordination channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formative evaluation has so much impact on learning, especially the online learning. There are many researches on the formative evaluation of online learning, but most of them focus on the theory or the system development, and the empirical researches on this aspect are still very limited. We proved the formative evaluation΄s impact on the online learning by studying on the attention of the formative evaluation got from the learners, the course participation, the learner autonomy, and so on. We used the case study method, chose the education master΄s professional required course "Learning science and technology" and one of the learners to be the cases. In this paper, we will introduce the course, the formative evaluation, the study method and the relationship between the formative evaluation and online learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comparison of test-first and test-last development approaches on a customer account management software of a telecommunication company. While the management had plans for initiating a process that enforces test-first development over test-last, they also had concerns about the tradeoffs. Therefore, an exploratory case study with quantitative analysis is carried out on a pilot project where the code metrics and estimated manual inspection efforts of both approaches are compared. Our results indicate no statistical difference between the two approaches in terms of design (CK) metrics. On the other hand, we observe that test-last development yields significantly simpler code in terms of cyclomatic complexity and less (though not significant) manual inspection effort. Hence, our initial results indicate no superiority of test-first over test-last development in the described industrial context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of P2P applications in universities has been mainly focused on questions related to file sharing and copyright violation, and little attention has been given to the development of secured and authenticated P2P applications, specially conceived to academic environments. In this paper, we describe Bumerang, an authenticated campus P2P network, which despite technological quality and top level institutional commitment, didn΄t reach critical mass of users, failing at the individual adoption level. To understand the factors that contributed for this result, we make a retrospective analysis of the process of conception and diffusion including results from the network activity. We conclude that we must reinforce their perceived utility, deal with the security concerns with new approaches and stay away from using the P2P term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, software maintenance takes only technical information into account to evolve legacy systems. However, business knowledge, which could help to improve the comprehension of legacy systems, is rarely recovered. Probably, that knowledge is not considered due to the fact that business knowledge recovery is a problem with a non trivial solution. This paper contributes to the solution of this problem through the use of a set of patterns and the implementation through QVT transformations, which takes KDM (Knowledge Discovery Metamodel) models concerning the system and obtains BPMN (Business Processes Model and Notation) models to represent the embedded business knowledge. A case study reports that the transformation obtains cohesive and loosely-coupling business processes diagrams; and it is scalable to large systems. As a consequence, the business processes recovery can enhance the maintenance since they provide the business concept location in legacy systems, among other improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we build on our methodology for combining and selecting alignment techniques for vocabularies, with two alignment case studies of large vocabularies in two languages. Firstly, we analyze the vocabularies and based on that analysis choose our alignment techniques. Secondly, we test our hypothesis based on earlier work that first generating alignments using simple lexical alignment techniques, followed by a separate disambiguation of alignments performs best in terms of precision and recall. The experimental results show, for example, that this combination of techniques provides an estimated precision of 0.7 for a sample of the 12,725 concepts for which alignments were generated (of the total 27,992 concepts). Thirdly, we explain our results in light of the characteristics of the vocabularies and discuss their impact on the alignments techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of formal modeling approaches in software development has always been a subject of debates. The proponents of model-driven development argue that big upfront designs although require substantial investment will payoff later in the implementation phase in terms of increased productivity and quality. On the other hand, software engineers who are not very keen on modeling perceive the activity as simply a waste of time and money without any real contribution to the final software product. Considering present advancement of model-based software development in software industry, we are challenged to investigate the real contribution of modeling in software development. Therefore, in this paper we report on an empirical investigation on the impact of UML modeling on the quality of software system. In particular, we focus on defect density as a measure of software quality. Based on a significant industrial case study, we have found that the use of UML modeling potentially reduces defect density in software system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic idea of this concept is the generation of emission-free solar energy by means of solar cells from outer space and the transmission of energy to the earth using microwave or laser beam. Instead of the conventional rigid structure a concept of a large membrane or a mesh structure which holds its corners by satellites was proposed. This paper deals with the development of low cost mobile mini robots able to move and place the solar cells as well as transmitter on a mesh structure in outer space in non gravity with huge temperature variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring of fulfilment of obligations defined by electronic contracts in distributed domains is presented in this paper. A two-level model of contract-based systems and the types of observations needed for contract monitoring are introduced. The observations (inter-agent communication and agents΄ actions) are collected and processed by the contract observation and analysis pipeline. The presented approach has been utilized in a multi-agent system for electronic contracting in a modular certification testing domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many interactive systems today span across a range of interoperable IT artifacts, forming crossmedia systems. They aim at providing pervasive and synergistic support for human activities. This paper reports a three-month-long qualitative field study exploring the use of a crossmedia fitness system to support physical training. The main concern is how the system – through the configuration of its components – supports the primary activity. Users΄ primary motivation, elaborateness of their activities, internalization or externalization of their actions and their perceived threshold toward using distinct IT artifacts determined the utilization of the system and each of its components. Compositional aspects of the system, such as its hierarchical structure, distribution of functionality and functional modularity influenced its ability to support different ways of training. The article contributes by shedding light on aspects that influence the synergistic use of IT artifacts and by proposing implications for designing crossmedia systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Context and motivation] Case studies have the potential to be an essential bridge between the constructive (build new theories, algorithms, or methods to address practical problems) and the empirical (develop evidence through observation of or experience with existing methods or artifacts in practice) approaches to requirements engineering research. [Question/problem] To realize this potential, our aim is to provide representational guidance for designing a case study as a part of the invention process of a novel requirements engineering methodology (REM). [Principal ideas/results] In this paper, we present the innovative use of assurance cases to emphasize argumentation and rigorous evidence planning during case study research design. [Contribution] The steps involved in case study research design using the assurance case notation are outlined as a systematic way to plan a validation effort for a REM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the role of distributed leadership and trust in online communities. The team-based informal ethos of online collaboration requires a different kind of leadership from that in formal positional hierarchies. Such leadership may be more flexible and sophisticated, capable of encompassing ambiguity and rapid change. Online leaders need to be partially invisible, delegating power and distributing tasks. Yet, simultaneously, online communities are facilitated by the high visibility and subtle control of expert leaders. This paradox: that leaders need to be both highly visible and invisible as appropriate, was derived from prior research and tested in the analysis of online community discussions using a pattern-matching process. It is argued that both leader visibility and invisibility are important for the facilitation of trusting collaboration via distributed leadership. Advanced leadership responses to complex situations in online communities foster positive group interaction and decision-making, facilitated through active distribution of specific tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaboration among companies is nowadays a success leverage from those involved, especially for SMEs. The networking advantages are several and among them, reducing costs is a critical one. Costs reduction due to the possibility of Collaborative Procurement (CP) among partners is one of the most important achievements in a network. While the literature available offers good bases for managing single contractor procurement issues, little research addresses the case of CP within Enterprise Networks (ENs). This paper explore the mentioned issue and proposes a general framework for managing CP in ENs, those with the Virtual Development Office (VDO) structure. The findings from the application of the framework proposed in an Italian network are highlighted so as to provide preliminary results and drive future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is believed by many scholars that a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) cannot be seen through the lens of a large firm. Theories which explain IT governance in large organizations and methodologies used by practitioners can therefore not be extrapolated to SMEs, which have a completely different economic, cultural and managerial environment. SMEs suffer from resource poverty, have less IS experience and need more external support. SMEs largely contribute to the failure of many IS projects. We define an outsourced information system failure (OISF) as a failure of IT governance in an SME environment and propose a structure for stating propositions derived from both agency theory and theory of trust. The theoretical question addressed in this paper is: how and why do OISFs occur in SMEs? We have chosen a qualitative and positivistic IS case study research strategy based on multiple cases. Eight cases of IS projects were selected. We found that trust is more important than control issues like output-based contracts and structured controls for eliminating opportunistic behaviour in SMEs. We conclude that the world of SMEs is significantly different from that of large companies. This necessitates extra care to be taken on the part of researchers and practitioners when designing artefacts for SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes FlexBenefits, a commercial software system designed to support flexible employment benefits, and shows how the use of fact-based modeling aided in the development of this system. Flexible employment conditions are labor conditions which can be traded off against each other. They give employees the opportunity to tailor their working conditions to their personal situation. Flexible employment conditions have to comply with four different levels of legislation presently; governmental laws, collective labor agreements, the company policies and the personnel group policies, each of which change constantly in the course of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an experience report on the specification and the validation of a real case study in the context of the industrial CRISTAL project. The case study concerns a platoon of a new type of urban vehicles with new functionalities and services. It is specified using the combination, named CSP||B, of two well-known formal methods, and validated using the corresponding support tools. This large – both distributed and embedded – system typically corresponds to a multi-level composition of components that have to cooperate. We identify some lessons learned, showing how to develop and verify the specification and check some properties in a compositional way using theoretical results and support tools to validate this complex system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is a case study of customer-initiated software product development. We have observed and participated in system development activities in a commercial software house (company) over a period of two years. The company produces project-planning tools for the oil and gas industry, and relies on interaction with customers for further development of its products. Our main research question is how customers and professional developers engage in mutual development mediated by shared software tools (products and support systems). We have used interviews with developers and customers as our main source of data, and identified the activities (from use to development) where customers have contributed to development. We analyze our findings in terms of co-configuration, meta-design and modding in order to name and compare the various stages of development (adaptation, generalization, improvement request, specialization, and tailoring). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a method we created to evaluate the impact of mobile learning on a large hybrid/blended computer science classroom of 562 students (about 90% being online). The impact of the mLearning system and learning activities is evaluated through pre- and post-surveys and from four aspects: 1) if student enjoyed the learning experience, 2) how students feel about interacting with fellow learners, 3) how students felt about their relationship to their instructors in the mobile blended learning environment, and 4) mobile blended classroom΄s effects on students΄ study habits. Cluster analysis is used to measure the validity of the surveys we used in this evaluation study. The cluster analysis confirms the validity of the survey results and also corroborates the statistical evidence of mLearning΄s positive influence on learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called platooning problem consists in making autonomous vehicles move in a convoy. It crosses several domains: distributed systems, embedded systems, multi-agent systems and critical systems. We thus propose to use the combination named CSP||B of two well-known formal methods to assess and verify properties of this complex system. To that end we make use of previous theoretical results on CSP||B. We also illustrate how this methodology spans the multiple composition levels of the resulting model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the problem of finding all Pareto-optimal solutions in a multi-criteria setting of the shortest path problem in time-dependent graphs. This has important applications in timetable information systems for train schedules. We present a new prototype to solve this problem in a fully realistic scenario based on a multi-criteria generalization of Dijkstra΄s algorithm. As optimization criteria we use travel time and number of train changes, as well as a new criterion ˵reliability of transfers″. The performance of the prototype and various speed-up techniques are analyzed experimentally on a large set of real test instances. In comparison with a base-line implementation, our prototype achieves significant speed-up factors of 20 with respect to the number of label creations and of 138 with respect to label insertions into the priority queue. We also compare our prototype with a time-expanded graph model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web and software engineering are not only about technical solutions. They are to a large extent also concerned with organisational issues, project management and human behaviour. For disciplines like Web and software engineering, empirical methods are crucial, since they allow for incorporating human behaviour into the research approach taken. Empirical methods are common practice in many other disciplines. This chapter provides a motivation for the use of empirical methods in Web and software engineering research. The main motivation is that it is needed from an engineering perspective to allow for informed and well-grounded decisions. The chapter continues with a brief introduction to four research methods: controlled experiments, case studies, surveys and post-mortem analyses. These methods are then put into an improvement context. The four methods are presented with the objective to introduce the reader to the methods to a level where it is possible to select the most suitable method at a specific instance. The methods have in common that they all are concerned with quantitative data. However, several of them are also suitable for qualitative data. Finally, it is concluded that the methods are not competing. On the contrary, the different research methods can preferably be used together to obtain more sources of information that hopefully lead to more informed engineering decisions in Web and software engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many knowledge management initiatives fail because they are not aligned with business strategies and the indicators that are used to measure success of the company and its operations. Most initiatives are primarily solution-oriented, too much focused on IT-tools or other one-dimensional solutions. Business owners lack insight about how knowledge management can benefit their operations and therefore do not demonstrate commitment to support these initiatives. This chapter describes the Knowledge Strategy Process, which is based on experiences of the authors in aligning knowledge management and business strategies in the context of companies such as Siemens AG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]